IGN's Top 100 RPG's of All Time

[Edge7]

I remember scoffing at Tales of Destiny's placement being higher than Tales of Symphonia's. ToD was also credited with many innovations Tales of Phantasia introduced to RPGs.

Also, Wild Arms is among my favorite RPGs, but to say it's better than FFIX, Vagrant Story, and Persona's 3 and 4 is blasphemy.

At this point I'm just going to be glad IGN put these on the list, and then didn't pay any attention to the order.

[Fynn]

Chrono Trigger needed to be WAAAAAAY down the list. Certainly not number 2. I didn't look at the list but I noticed somebody said that CT got second place.

Not happy with

- Baldur's Gate II taking the 3rd spot. It's not that good.

What is wrong with you people!?

[Alpha2099]

At this point I'm just going to be glad IGN put these on the list, and then didn't pay any attention to the order.

Yeah, that's about all you can do. I started flipping through the pages going, "I wonder if [insert game] is in here somewhere?"

[Hollycat]

This list is wack yo.

[Laddy]

My Top 10 for no reason!

1. Final Fantasy VI
2. Baldur's Gate II
3. Fallout 2
4. Chrono Trigger
5. Planescape: Torment
6. Final Fantasy IX
7. Persona 3
8. Final Fantasy VII
9. Deus Ex
10. Ultima IV

[krissy]

final fantasy mystic quest in the top 3?

halo 3 as #1?

i don't know if i agree but they make valid points

[Bolivar]

I disagree. Yes, JRPG's and WRPG's are different, but I think treating them as entirely different genres is the absolute worst thing you could do for both. It seems JRPG's and WRPG's both have fanbases that rarely intermingle and that has caused both genres to so set in their cliches and tropes while dismissing the other's. The thing is, a JRPG and WRPG are ultimately judged to similar standards and while they have different traits that make them unique, ultimately both subgenres need the same mix of proper story and gameplay elements to be successful.

Come now, I'm sure we could think of "worse" things to do to them than treating them as different genres

But I do think they have different goals. WRPGs try to live up to the "role playing" standard of their name. They're the computerization of pen and paper RPGs. You create a character and pretend to be that person throughout the entire game. In executing this philosophy, the game must consequently immerse the player with enough dialogue, which, if placed into a JRPG, I would consider to be bad pacing.

I do agree that it's dangerous to separate the two, as they begin to exclude eachother's techniques to their own detriment. The optional order to tackle things in FFVI and Chrono Trigger were great, and I thought the dialogue options in FFVII were just enough to give you choice while keeping the pace going.

However, it's equally dangerous to encourage these different subgenres to emulate eachother. The current generation of consoles has seen Japan obsessed with "Western game design," as if that was actually a thing, and it has led to catastrophic results. You could argue it's a case of Japanese devs emulating the West poorly, but it's still a side-effect of what you're advocating.

[Elite Lord Sigma]

Yeah, I don't disagree on the Top 5, but there are some comments to make on this list.

-Final Fantasy IX is too low. No way The Legend of Dragoon should be above it.
-Fire Emblem on the list is . . . interesting. As much as I love the series, I don't really consider it to be a true RPG. Then again, it and other SRPGs share other core tenets with other RPGs, so I'm not opposed to it.
-Demon's Souls being on the list is great. It would have been a huge oversight if it weren't.
-Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a personal favorite of mine, but I think it's a little too high in the list.
-Thankfully, Skies of Arcadia is on the list. If it weren't, I'd boycott IGN's gaming section forever.
-Freedom Force is the first game on the list that I can say that I never heard of before reading about it there. Then again, knowing Ken Levine and Irrational, the minds behind System Shock 2 and BioShock, it's hardly a surprise.
-Tactics Ogre is a series I've been interested in, but the fact that I was never much of a Sony system owner prevented me from getting into it. Too bad the Vita is a freaking joke, and I have no interest in the PSP.
-I approve of Dragon Quest V on the list. I haven't played it myself, but I've watched an entire LP of it. I can tell just from watching that it's one of the greats.
-As much of a Pokémaniac that I am, I don't think Black and White should be quite so high.
-I was fully expecting fanboy outrage over VII not even being in the top 10. I'm pleasantly surprised.
-Where is Deux Ex: Human Revolution? I know it's not going to be in the pantheon, but surely it's somewhere in the top 100?
-Oblivion should not be above Morrowind. As much as Oblivion was an improvement in gameplay overall, it regressed when it came to atmosphere, mood, and all of those other little details that make a game immortal.
-I might get flak for this one, but Dark Souls fully deserves this placement. It's one of the best games to come out in this console generation, and it's one of the best to come out in recent memory.

If nothing else, this list is a nice compilation of games that I need to play sometime in the future.

[Laddy]

Despite how I came off, I don't advocate emulation between the two, particularly, as you said, due to the emulations often being of poor quality. But I believe part of the reasons why say, JRPG's have started emulating WRPG's, is because the two subgenres were treated so differently a total change of philosophy was necessary to succeed, which I disagree with. Incorporating is better than emulating, after all.

What I do advocate, however, is the two different styles being judged similarly and being compared to each other and thus working off each other. Both evolving. I'm not saying both can't have their own styles and elements, but in the end what I want in an RPG is deep and involved gameplay, strong story and characters, and an overall fun and rewarding experience.

Like you said, part of what made CT and FFVI so great is that they're more open-ended, a trait of WRPG's. What made Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate II so great is they emphasize a concentrated narrative, a trait of notable of JRPG's. In the end all these game because surprisingly similar experiences and all serve as a great example for any RPG, eastern or western.

[Pete for President]

-I might get flak for this one, but Dark Souls fully deserves this placement. It's one of the best games to come out in this console generation, and it's one of the best to come out in recent memory.

I think it deserves a little more actually. Dark Souls > Skyrim any day.

[black orb]

>>> No valkyrie profile?
Chrono cross, FF9, FF10, Xenoblade are too low.. FF4 is too high.
Wild Arms sucked.
Anything that has "Pokemon" on it cant be that good..

that list suck..

[Alpha2099]

Anything that has "Pokemon" on it can't be that good...

SHUT YO MOUTH, FOO!

I don't know much about the current generation of Pokemon games, but R/B/Y and even G/S/C were great.

[maybee]

Chrono Trigger needed to be WAAAAAAY down the list. Certainly not number 2.

You cray cray ?

[Slothy]

I don't know much about the current generation of Pokemon games, but R/B/Y and even G/S/C were great.

I didn't play much after red/blue, but all I remember of the 8th grade is Pokemon Red.

[Polnareff]

Chrono Trigger needed to be WAAAAAAY down the list. Certainly not number 2.

You cray cray ?

Even at the time, the only things that stood about it were 1. the Toriyama art (the big reason people got hooked on the game) and 2. the time travel aspect, which wasn't even that grand back then, and seems even less so now. Other games did the "different time period" schtick better, like Live-A-Live (another Square game) but didn't get any notice for it.

All in all, compared to Square's other stuff, the game was too short and too easy, and really Toriyama's art was about the only seriously great thing about it. That and the boss i mentioned earlier. Should the game be on the list? Maybe. But number 2 is a huge stretch. It should have maybe been no higher than rank 25 or so in my eyes.